Card-stamping machine.



Wi W. HODGSON.

CARD STAMPING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APB..15,1907.

Patented Jan. 5, 1909.

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908,863. Patented Jan.5,1909.

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W. W. HODGSON. CARD STAMPING MACHINE. APPLIOATION FILED APR.16,71907.

908,863. Patented Jan. 5, 1909.

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W. W; HODGSON. CARD STAMPING MACHINE. ArrmoulonnumAPR.15,'1907.

Patented Jam5, 1909.

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WALTER W. HODGSON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CARD-STAMPING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented Jan. 5, 1909.

Application filed April 15, 1907. Serial No. 368,345.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER W. HoDGsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certainImprovements in Card- Stamping Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention consists of a machine for punching or stamping jac uardcards for use in the weaving of fabrics iaving a plurality of Weftcolors, and of intricate patterns, such as tapestries of the Gobelintype, etc., the object of my invention being to so construct the machinethat cards for such intricate patterns can be produced with no moreexpenditure of time and labor and with the exercise'of no higher degreeof skill than is now required for the production of cards for thesimplest patterns.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view,illustrating-in diagrammatic form, the essential elements of a cardstamping machine constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 isa plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a section on the line Or -(t, Fig. 1;Fig. 4 is a view, on a larger scale, of ortions of three cards partiallystamped y the machine; Fig. 5 is a View of a plece of design paperhaving thereon part of a design corresponding with the stamping of thecards shown in Fig. 4, and Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are sectional views on anenlarged scale of parts of the mechanism of the machine.

In the weaving of fabrics of intricate patterns, such, for instance, astapestries of the Gobelin type, the warp threads and the weft threadsare arranged in sets, each set of warp threads usually comprising two ormore figuring threads and a binding thread, and each set of weft threadsbeing also composed, usually, of two or more figuring threads and abinding thread, and in order to produce, in the fabric, the weaverepresented by a single line on the design paper as many cards must beemployed in the jacquard machine as there are weft threads in the set,one card being required for each pick of weft.

The cards are usually stamped, one at a time, by direct manipulation ofthe keys, or other punch controlling devices, by the card stamper, whomust, therefore, not only possess an intimate knowledge of the characterof the weave for which the cards are intended, but must also exercisethe highest degree of care and skill in order to so stamp the cards asto insure the proper disposition of the plurality of warp threads ofeach set for the successive picks of weft thread. The production of suchcards by the present methods is a slow and laborious one, demanding thehighest paid class of labor, and, even although the stamping operationis conducted with skill and care, mistakes are frequent and many cardsof a pattern often have to be re-stamped after the weaving of the firstpiece of the fabric has brought to light the mistakes which were made inthe original stamping.

The aim of my invention has been to provide a machine for effecting thesimultaneous stamping of as many cards as are needed to complete the setrequired for the production of a single line of the design, the latterbeing read simply or without qualification by the card stamper, and thesimple depression of successive keys, or groups of eys, corresponding tothe coloring of the successive spaces or squares in a line of thedesign, serving to effect, automatically, the proper stamping of all ofthe cards of the set corresponding to said line of the design. Themachine which I employ is of the piano type, having punches 1 forproducing a single row of openings in a card at each operation, thesepunches o erating in conjunction with a stationary ocking head 2, andwith reciprocating punching and stripper plates 3 and 4, but 1t has asmany rows or sets of punches, disposed in line longitudinally, as thereare cards in the set which is to be simultaneously stamped, the cardsbeing laced together or enchained as shown in Fig. 4, before beginningthe stamping operation, and each card of a set being fed through themachine simultaneously with the other cards of the set by intermittentstep-by-step movements in the direction of the length of the card, eachmovement to the extent of the distance from center to center of thesuccessive rows of openings to be formed in the card, these movementsbeing continued as the reading of the design rogresses, until, by thetime the design has been read from one end of a line to the other, eachcard of the set will have been stamped from one end to the other of thespace intended forsuch purpose. The cards are then fed forward in thedirection of the length of the chain to the extent of the number ofcards contained in the set which is being stamped, and are also shiftedto,

their normal or starting position again, preparatory to a repetition ofthe stamping operation for the next line of the design, or the next lineof the design may be read in a direction the reverse of the firstreading, and in stamping the cards for this line of the design they maybe fed in a direction the reverse of that of the former set.

In the drawing I have not considered it necessary to illustrate themechanism for reci rocating the punching and stripping p ates, or forfeeding the cards step by step from row to row beneath the punches, orfor imparting reciprocating movement to other elements of the machinenot receiving movement directly from the keys, as such operating devicesform no essential part of my invention and may be similar to devicesheretofore employed for the purpose in card stamping machines.

The machine as shown is designed for stamping cards for a fabric havingtwo patterning threads and a binder in each set of weft threads andthree patterning threads and a binder in each set of warp threads. Withsuch a combination eight different effects can be produced in thefabric, and each of these effects is represented by properdifferentiation of the coloring or shading of the spaces of the designpaper. The patterning weft threads, for instance, may be white and blackrespectively, the figure warp threads gold and red, and the ground warpthread green, the possible effects then being white, where the whiteweft thread is exposed, represented, say, by a cross-hatched s ace onthe design paper black, where the b ack weft thread is exposed,represented, say, by a black space on the design paper; light red, wherethe red warp thread is car ried over the white weft thread, and dark redwhere the red warp thread is carried over the black weft thread, theseeffects being represented respectively by the light and dark verticalline spaces on the design paper; light gold and dark gold where the goldwarp thread is carried respectively over the white and black weftthreads, these effects being represented res ectively by the light anddark horizontal ine spaces on the design paper; the floating groundwarlp thread, repre sented by the light diagona y lined spaces,

and the tied ground warp thread, repre-- sented by the white spaces onthe design paper. There are, therefore, three cards in each set, one foreach pick of weft, and consequently three sets of reciprocating punches1, represented respectively at a, b and 0, each set comprising, in thepresent instance, sixteen punches, and being designed to produce what istermed a sixteen-row card, such a card having sixteen spaces in each rowwhich extends across it from front to rear, and an indefinite number ofsuch rows from end to end, depending upon the width of the pattern. Eachof the rows of sixteen spaces thus represents four sets of warp threads,four in a set; for instance, the first four spaces may represent thefour red warp threads, the next four spaces may'represent the four goldwarp threads, the next four spaces may represent the four ground warpthreads, and the last four spaces may represent the four binder warpthreads, each row of the card therefore corresponding to four successivespaces of one line of the design, the next row corresponding to the nextfour successive spaces of said line, and so on throughout the length ofthe card, the'last row corresponding to the last four successive spacesof the line.

Supposing that the weft threads are introduced in the following order,black, white, and binder, the first or right hand card of the seriesshown in Fig. 4 will govern the disposition of the warp threads when theblack weft thread is being inserted, the intermediate card will governthe disposition of the warp threads when the white weft thread is beinginserted, and the third or left hand card of the series will govern thedisposition of the warp threads when the binder weft thread is beinginserted.

The six stamped rows shown on each of the cards represent the properstampingof the same for the first six divlsions or twentyfour spaces ofthe first line of the pattern shown on the design paper Fig. 5, and itwill be seen that the stamping of each card is essentially differentfrom that of the others. Reading from right to left on the first row ofthe design shown in Fig. 5, it will be noted that the first, second,fourth, fifth, seventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth,sixteenth, seventeenth, nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-second spacesrepresent tied ground; the third space represents a black weft; thesixth and twenty-first spaces represent a floating ground; the eighthand eleventh spaces represent light red, or red warp over white weft;the ninth and tenth s aces represent dark red, or red warp over b ackweft; the eighteenth space represents the white weft; the twenty-thirdspace represents light gold, or gold warp over white weft; and thetwenty-fourth space re )resents dark gold, or gold warp over black weft.Referring now to the set of three cards shown in Fig. 4, it will benoted that on the insertion of the first or black weft, the red warp israised in sets 8, 9, 10 and 11; the gold warp is raised in sets 8, 18,23 and 24; the ground warp is raised in all of the sets except thethird, ninth, tenth, twentythird and twenty-fourth, and the binder warpis raised in the third set only, where it ties the black warp on theface. 011 the insertion of the second or white weft the red. warp israised in sets 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16 and 20 the gold warp is raisedin all of keys corresponding to the spaces on the dethe sets except 8,9, 1O, 11 and 18; the

ground warp is raised in all of the sets except 3, 8, 11, 18, and 23;and the binder warp is raised only in sets 3 and 18, wliiere weftthreads appear upon the surface. On the insertion of the third or binderweft all of the red and gold warp threads are down and the ground Warpthread is raised only in sets 6 and 21; while the binder warp is raisedin all of the sets except 6 and 21, where it ties the binder weft on theback of the fabric. It is to effect such differential stamping of theset of cards, or more properly the simultaneous stamping of a row oneach card of the set, by the simple act of manipulating sign paperrepresenting said row that my invention has been devised.

It will be noted on reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 that each of thepunches of each set is normally locked or prevented from rising by meansof a locking bolt 5 overlapping the upper end of the punch, the latter,when thus held, perforating the card on the ascent of the punching plate3. Before the ascent of said punching plate, however, a reciproeatingbar 6 acts upon a spring 7 interposed between it and a shoulder orcollar 8 at the rear end of the locking bolt 5, and thus tends towithdraw the latter from its locking position unless such. movement isrestrained. If all of the locking bolts are thus restrained a completerow of sixteen holes will be formed in each of the cards on each upwardmovement of the punching plate 3, while if none of the locking bolts arerestrained they will all be withdrawn from locking position, the puncheswill be free to rise on the ascent of the cutting plate and no openingswill be formed in any of the cards. Whether any particular space in arow on any card, therefore, is punched or left blank depends uponwhether the locking bolt for the punch cor responding to said space isrestrained or left free from restraint on the outward movement of thereciprocating bar 6, and this is determined in accordance with therequirements of the pattern in the following manner. Each one of thelocking bolts is perforated or otherwise constructed for engagement withany one of a longitudinal series of controllerrods 9 disposed beneaththe same, and each set of these controller-rods is, in turn, under thecontrol of any one or more of a series of lateral lifter-bars 10,through which the controller-rods pass, the control of eachcontroller-rod by any desired lifter-bar being effected in any mannerwhich will permit ready assumption or release of such control, a simplemethod being to provide each controller-rod with as many openings asthere are lifter-bars through which it passes, each of these openingsbeing on a level with the top of its corresponding lifter-bar when theparts are at rest, so that by providing the o ening with a projectingpin a: the raising of the controller-rod by the lifter-bar will beinsured, or, if the opening is not thus rovided with a pin, thecontroller-rod wil be free from the lifting action of the bar. It willbe understood that the placing of these pins in the controller-rods iseffected before the machine begins to stamp the cards, and said pins areplaced by some one having knowledge of the proper disposition of thethreads in the fabric or pattern for which the cards are to be stamped,so that each lifterbar, when raised by its appropriate key, will onlymove into action the controllerrods having pins which engage with suchlifter bar, and these rods will be those required to effect the desiredpunching of the three cards corresponding to said key and to the spaceon the design paper which it represents.

To provide for the setting of the controller rods, after the applicationof the pins thereto, the bars 10 may have their openings in the form ofkey-hole slots 25, (Fig. 8) and after the pins x have been properlyapplied to a red, the latter may be passed through the openings in avertical set of lifter bars, while the pins are in line with the slots,as shown at the right hand side of Fig. 8, and then may be turned partway around, as shown at the left hand side of Fig. 8, in order to bringthe pins into position for engagement with the bars, the lower ends ofthe controller rods being squared or otherwise shaped and being finallybrought into engagement with the bottom guide bar 26, which thusprevents further turning of the rod.

There are in the present instance sixteen controller-rods 9 for eachlocking bolt, and each of these controller-rods passes through eightlifter-bars 10, so that, assuming each lifterbar to be capable ofindependent movement, one hundred and twenty-eight different methods ofcontrol for each lockingbolt are provided. In order to effect thisindependent movement, each lifter-bar 10 is connected, by a forked lever12, to a key 13, forming part of a conveniently located key board, therebeing, in the present instance, sixteen rows of these keys, eachcomprising eight keys, the rows of levers being, by preference, onlevels corresponding with those of the eight sets of litter bars 10,with which they are connected, but the levers of each row, with theiroperating keys being disposed with reference to the most convenientmanipulation of the latter. Each lifter-bar 10 can, therefore, by themanipulation of its corresponding key, be operated. independently of anyother one of the bars, and each bar 10 can, by proper disposition of thepins x on the forty-eight controller-rods 9 passing through it, becaused, when it is lifted, to restrain or permit to remain free fromrestraint any of the forty-eight locking bolts 5.

Supposing that a punched space on a card causes the corresponding warpthread to be lifted and a blank space causes the corresponding warpthread to be lowered, the lifting of the particular warp thread of a setrepresented by a particular space on the design paper, by manipulationof a correspondingly shaded key of the key board, will not only causethe lifting of the selected warp thread when the first pick of weftthread is shot in, but will also govern the disposition of said threadwhen the remaining two picks are shot, and the disposition of theremaining warp threads of the set for all three picks, such dispositionof the threads being determined by thesetting of the pins 90 in thecontroller-rods 9 cooperating with the lifter-bar 10 connected to saidkey.

As there are, in the showing which I have made, only four warp threadsin a set and only eight different dispositions of said warp threads onthe face of the fabric, it would appear that thirty-two keys would besufficient to effect all of the changes required, and this would be trueif the back of the fabric could be ignored, or if, on each appearance ofa particular one of a set of warp threads on the face of the fabric, theother threads of the set were disposed in a certain order on each of thethree picks, but in tapestry fabrics of the character produced by suchcards as those with which I am dealing, the back of the fabric isusually subjected to a special treatment, being commonly woven with atwill, and it is for the purpose of thus taking care of the back of thefabric that I quadruple the number of keys and their cooperating partswhich would normally seem to be required. By this means I can, inreading one line of the design, use one set of keys, in reading the nextline can use a second set of keys; in reading the third line can use athird set of keys; and in reading the fourth line can use a fourth setof keys; and thus can change the treatment of the back, in each of thefour lines, thereby producing on the back, if desired, a four-leaftwill, and other designs can be formed by a greater or lessmultiplication of the primary number of keys and their cooperatingparts. It will be understood, also, that the number of keys andcooperating parts will also be increased in cases where the number ofwarp threads in a set or the num ber of colors in the design is greaterthan those which I have selected for illustration. In practice I shouldbuild the machine with a number of keys sufficient to meet the maximumdemand likely to be made upon it, and use a portion only of the keyswhen cards for simpler designs are to be stamped.

A simple embodiment of my invention is one in which the controller-rodsand the series of sets of lifter-bars at different levels are dispensedwith, a single set of bars only being used, and each of these bars beingprovided with a projecting pin for engaging each of the locking bolts 5which is to be restrained when the bar is elevated, the pins beingchangeable as to position in order to provide for the setting up ofdifierent patterns. will also be manifest that the locking-bolts 5 forthe punches may normally be out of locking position and may be movedinto locking position by the bar 6, except when restrained by thecontroller bars, this being a simple reversal of the construction whichI have shown and hereinbefore described.

In order that the keys, when depressed, may, until the stamping of thecard has been completed, be retained in the depressed position Withoutthe necessity of continued pressure upon the same by the fingers of theperson operating the machine, I notch the stem of each key as shown at15, this notch being so disposed that when the key is depressed againstthe action of its lifting spring 16 and is then pushed forward to aslight ex tent, said notched portions of the stem will engage with a lug17 on the lower guide 18, and will thus be retained in the depressedposition until released by the action of a plate 19, which has a notchfor each of the ey stems, and which may be moved either by hand orautomatically to effect such release, after the punching of each row ofopenings in the set of cards has been completed. (See Figs. 6 and 7.)

Reciprocating stripper plates 20 and 21 are used in connection with thecontroller-rods 9 and punches 1 respectively, for restoring to normalposition those rods or punches which have been raised by the lifter-bars10 or by the cards.

The principle of my invention may be ado ted in machines for stampingbut a sing e card at a time, using as many machines as there are weftthreads in a set, each machine having its pins 00 arranged with respectto the particular card of the set which it is to produce, or using thesame machine for punching first the cards for the first weft, thenre-arranging the pins and punching the cards for the second Weft, thenagain rearranging the pins and punching the cards for the third weft,and so on.

I am aware that revious to my invention the keys for controlling one setof punches of a card stamping machine have been connected by levers to aduplicate set of keys controlling another set of punches, the purposebeing to cause the keys thus connected to have an opposite effect, thatis to say when a key controlling a punch of one set of punches isdepressed so as to lock its punch the key connected thereto by the leveris caused to unlock its punch, while a key not depressed has theopposite effect, but I am not aware that it has heretofore been proposedto stamp simultaneously two or more cards representing different picksof weft,

each card without relation to the other cards which are stampedsimultaneously therewith, nor am I aware that a machine of the pianotype has ever been made to stamp cards which have been previously lacedor enchained so as to be fed forward as a unit during the stampingoperation.

I claim 1. A card stamping machine having a plurality of sets ofpunches, means for controlling the same to stamp, simultaneously, aplurality of separate and inde endent cards, one for each different pickof t e'weft, and means for connecting the cards so that they may be fedas a unit.

2. A card stamping machine having a set of punches for forming a row ofopenings in a card, a keyboard, intervening mechanism whereby theoperation of a single key controls the operation of all of the punchesof the set and changeable means whereby this control can be modified atwill.

3. A card stamping machine having a plurality of sets of punches, akeyboard, intervenin mechanism whereby the operation of a sing e keycontrols the operation of all the punches of each set and changeablemeans whereby this control can be modified at will.

4. A card stamping machine in which a plurality of sets of stampingdevices, each adaptedto stamp a card for one pick of the weave, arecombined with a keyboard and with intervening mechanism whereby theactuation of a single key controls the operation of a series of punchesin each set.

5. A card stamping machine in which a plurality of sets of stampingdevices, each adapted to stamp a card for one pick of the weave, arecombined with a keyboard, intervenin mechanism whereby the actuation ofa sing e key controls the operation of one or more punches in each set,and means whereby the control of the punches of one set is independentof their control in each of the other sets.

6. A card stamping machine having a plurality of sets of punches,locking bolts therefor, means for controlling the operation of saidlocking bolts, a key, and means whereby said key effects the selectionof a series of locking bolts of each set to the exclusion of the others.

7. A card punchin machine, having a plurality of sets of punc es,locking bolts therefor, a set of keys, and changeable means interposedbetween each key and the locking bolts, whereby the control exercised bysaid key over the locking bolts appertaining to one set of punches, isindependent of the control exercised by the same key over the lookingbolts of either of the other sets of punches and can be modified atwill.

8. A card punching machine in which are control over the stampingdevices from that exercised by a corresponding key of another set.

10. A card stamping machine in which are combined a set of punches, aseries of independently movable lifter-bars, and means for causing eachlifter-bar to control certain of the punches, independently of the otherbars said means being changeable to vary such control.

11. A card stamping machine in which are combined a set of punches,locking bolts therefor, a series of independently movable lifter-bars,and means for causing each of said lifter-bars to control certain of thelooking bolts independently of the other bars said means beingchangeable to vary such control.

12. A card stamping machine in which are combined a set of punches,locking bolts therefor, controller rods for said bolts, lifterbars, eachada ted to actuate a controller rod for each 100 bolt, and means forplacing certain controller rods of each lifter-bar under the control ofthe latter, to the exclusion of the others.

13. A card stampin machine having a set of punches, locking b0 tstherefor, means for moving said bolts into or out of locking position,controller rods for restraining such movement, keys, one for each set ofcontroller rods, and means whereby certain controller rods of a set areselected to restrain the movement of the locking bolts, to the exclusionof the others.

14. A card stampin machine having a set of punches, locking bo tstherefor, means for moving said bolts into or out of locking position,controller rods for restraining such movement, lifter bars for saidcontroller rods, keys for operating said bars, and means whereby certaincontroller rods of each bar can be laced under control of the same, tothe exc usion of the others said means being changeable to vary suchcontrol.

15. The combination, in a card stamping machine, of a series of punches,a series of keys for controlling the same, means for retaining said keysin a depressed position, and means independent of said retaining devicesfor releasing the keys from such restraint.

16. The combination, in a card stamping machine, of a manually operatedkeyboard,

three or more sets of unches, and means whereby the keys of sai keyboardare caused to control, simultaneously, the punches of all of the sets,to produce, simultaneously, cards for three or more picks of Weft.

17. The combination, in a card stamping machine, of a set of punches,locking bolts therefor, bolt-control ing rods having roj ecting pins,lifter-bars having keyhole s ots,

10 and means for preventing the turning of the controller rods after adustment of the same in respect to the lifter-bars.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of tWo subscribing Witnesses.

WALTER W. HODGSON.

Witnesses:

HAMILTON D. TURNER, KATE A. BEADLE.

